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ALISON SAAR ALISON SAAR BREACH ALISON SAAR BREACH Williams Center Gallery Lafayette College, Easton Pennsylvania 2017 Published in conjunction with the exhibition Artwork copyright © 2014, 2016, 2017 by Alison Saar Alison Saar, Breach “mami wata (or how to know a goddess when you see Introduction Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Gallery one)” © 2016 Evie Shockley Lafayette College “Unminded (LETHE)” ©2016 Samiya Bashir We are delighted to have the opportunity to exhibit Breach presented opportunities for interdisciplinary Easton, Pennsylvania 18042 Alison Saar’s Breach, a body of work informed by the Great collaborations on and off campus. “Confluence,” a series September 17– December 17, 2016 Catalogue compilation copyright © 2017, Lafayette Mississippi Flood of 1927. The exhibition had its genesis in of lectures, performances, and films presented in the fall College Art Galleries, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042 Saar’s 2014 residency at Lafayette’s Experimental Printmaking semester, not only placed the flood of 1927 into a historical The College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM) Institute (EPI). Saar, subsequently named the 2016–17 and contemporary context but included a broad range of topics Sussel Gallery, Ebert Art Center Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Artist in Residence by related to rivers and waterways. Programs ranged from a site- 1220 Beall Ave. Essays copyright © 2017 by authors Kitty McManus Zurko the Department of Art, also was selected to deliver the 2016 specific dance performance, discussions about flooding along Wooster, Ohio 44691 and John M. Barry David L. Sr. and Helen J. Temple Lecture. the Delaware River, the lingering effects of Jim Crow, Ta-Nehisi January 17–March 10, 2017 In an early discussion about the exhibition I described both Coates’ Between the World and Me; to presentations about Published by Lafayette College Art Galleries, Morris R. Williams the Lafayette galleries—one in the Williams Center for the Mami Wata, the African and African Diaspora female water Arts, and the second, the Grossman Gallery in the Williams deity. A list of the programs can be found on page 46. University of Tennessee at Knoxville Center for the Arts, Easton, Pennsylvania Visual Arts Building—and let her select the one in which she Downtown Gallery In 2017—the 90th anniversary of the Great Mississippi would like to exhibit. She quickly determined the Grossman 106 S. Gay St. River Flood—this compelling body of work also will be shown Edited by Stevie O. Daniels and Kathryne Keck-Harris Gallery—situated over the Bushkill Creek and a block from Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 at four academic museum venues: the College of Wooster Art April 7–29, 2017 the Delaware River—was the perfect location for a proposed Museum, Ohio; University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, Designed by Heather Reinert and Michiko Okaya exhibition about the relationship of African Americans and Knoxville; Wrather West Kentucky Museum, Murray State Typeset in Scala Sans by Heather Reinert rivers. She wanted to explore such themes as the “politics University; and University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington. Murray State University Printed by Cenveo Publisher Services, Lancaster, Pennsylvania of people of color living in floodplains and the history of the Clara M. Eagle Gallery U.S. government’s negligence in flood control policy that Wrather West Kentucky Museum puts those populations at risk.” Michiko Okaya 100 University Drive “Breach” definition, page 2, from oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ As Kitty McManus Zurko describes in her catalogue essay, Director of Lafayette Art Galleries Murray, Kentucky 42071 Saar was in New Orleans in 2013 for a residency at the Joan June 9–August 22, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-9982772-1-9 Mitchell Center. She was dismayed to see how little had been done to rebuild African American communities devastated University of Kentucky Art Museum by Hurricane Katrina eight years earlier. Upon her return Rose Street and Euclid Ave. All rights reserved. Except for what section 107 of home to Los Angeles, she began researching the histories Lexington, Kentucky 40506 the Copyright Act of 1976 permits as “fair use,” no of American floods and effects on African Americans. The September 9–December 3, 2017 part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 piqued her interest. a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by Though few now know of this historic catastrophe, the 1927 any means electronic or mechanical, photocopied, flood, described as one of the worst natural river disasters recorded, or other, without permission of the in U.S. history, had a profound impact on the life of African publishers. The opinions expressed are those of the Americans living in the Mississippi Delta and brought long- authors and do not necessarily reflect views of the term social, cultural, federal policy, and political changes to exhibiting organizations. the United States. The exhibition would not have been possible without The Lafayette Art Galleries and the Experimental Printmaking Saar’s enthusiastic cooperation. Additionally, College of Institute (EPI) receives state arts funding support through a Wooster Art Museum’s Director/Curator Kitty McManus grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency Zurko wrote the insightful essay about Saar’s artwork funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the included here. John M. Barry, award-winning author of National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, provides a brief summary of the causes and long-term consequences of the event. Many thanks to poet Evie Shockley, who wrote “mami wata (how to know a goddess when you see one),” for her collaboration with Saar on the artist’s book of the same name. Poet Samiya Bashir’s “Unminded (LETHE),” “Consumption (PHLEGETHON),” “LAMENTATIONS ON THE ESPLANADE (COCYTUS),” “FLO/W/OE (ACHERON),” and “REALM AND COIN (STYX)” are the poemtags of Hades D.W.P., II. “Unminded (LETHE)” is reproduced in this publication. Alison Saar, Acheron, detail from Hades D.W.P., II, 2016 1 breach /bre CH/ noun 1. an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct. “a breach of confidence” 2. a gap in a wall, barrier, or defense, especially one made by an attacking army. verb 1. make a gap in and break through (a wall, barrier, or defense). “the river breached its bank” 2 3 Breach, 2016 wood, ceiling tin, found trunks, washtubs, and miscellaneous objects Introduction .............................................................................................1 Installation at Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College. Contents Kitty McManus Zurko, Alison Saar’s Breach .............................................6 Walls stained with acrylic, Bushkill Creek water, silt, and mud Alison Saar and Evie Shockley, Overleaf: detail of Alison Saar, Breach mami wata (or how to know a goddess when you see one) ........................30 John M. Barry, Great Mississippi Flood of 1927: A 75-Mile Inland Sea ......36 Checklist ...................................................................................................43 Biography ..................................................................................................44 Resources .................................................................................................48 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................49 4 5 Alison Saar’s Breach Kitty McManus Zurko Rivers flow along serenely and silently until they do histories, and cultural signifiers coalesce into a timely the failing levees.3 Because African Americans were near rivers in the first place; what has been the effect not. These multifaceted bodies of water functioned conversation that asks us to consider today’s divisive critical to the sharecropping economy of Southern of flooding on blacks and others living in flood-prone historically as points of entrée for exploration, trade racial relations by reflecting on a disastrous flood that plantations at the time, many blacks were forced into areas; and how have such disasters influenced music, routes, centers of commerce, and generators of fertile took place in 1927. relief camps on the Greenville levees and guarded art, and literature? agricultural regions. Like all great rivers, those in To start at the beginning of this particular tale, at gunpoint to discourage them from fleeing north, Her answers begin with four 2015 paintings on America carry the residue of past and present Saar was one of 24 Joan Mitchell Foundation grant as many others had since the beginning of the Great found and pieced together table linens and sugar 4 cultures as well as the metaphorical burden of recipients selected to participate in the Joan Mitchell Migration in 1910. and seed sacks. In these works, the artist explores human projection and reflection. Center’s 2013 Artist-in-Residence Pilot Program in Although what happened during Katrina still the humanity-preserving response to catastrophe Most riverine myths and beliefs focus on destruction New Orleans. During the three-week residency, she survives in our nation’s collective consciousness by focusing on the incongruity of what she calls, and salvation. Such myths are rooted in the delicate frequently rode her bike through the primarily black (recall the horrifying images of mostly African “dancing in the face of disaster.”5 Each painting’s balance between punishing floods that